1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of oil and gas equipment and, more specifically, to an oil deflection shield for deflecting leaking oil into a containment ditch.
2. Description of the Related Art
A heater treater is a critical piece of equipment used in the oil and gas production process. Heater treaters break wellstream emulsions by separating crude oil from water and other foreign materials. Heater treaters come in two versions—a horizontal unit and a vertical unit. Both types of heater treaters utilize a U-shaped fire tube that is situated inside of the heater treater to heat the incoming oil-water emulsion. The increased temperature reduces the molecular attraction between the oil and water molecules and allows the water droplets to settle out more rapidly. The vertical units typically treat single wells only, whereas the horizontal units typically treat multiple wells. FIGS. 16 and 17 illustrate the orientation of the fire tube within the vertical and horizontal heater treaters, respectively.
Both horizontal and vertical heater treaters operate under pressure in order to boost the oil out of the treater and into a storage tank. The horizontal units can handle larger amounts of emulsion than the vertical units because the relatively long, U-shaped fire tube provides greater heating capacity, which leads to a higher treating rate. On both types of heater treaters, the fire tube connects to the treater via a flange on the fire tube and a flange on the treater; these two flanges are bolted together, and a rubber gasket is situated between them (see FIGS. 16 and 17). This rubber gasket frequently fails, which can lead to catastrophic oil leaks. These oil leaks cause damage to the environment, including surrounding water supplies, vegetation, and domestic and wild animals. Remediation costs can be significant in these situations.
Most heater treaters are situated above EPA-required containment dikes. The purpose of these containment dikes is to contain any oil that may leak from any of the flanges on the treater. If the leak is directly underneath the flange, then the oil will spill into the containment dike. If the leak is out of the top or sides of the flange, however, then the oil will overshoot the containment dike. The present invention is designed to deflect oil that leaks from the top or sides of a flange on a heater treater (horizontal or vertical unit) down and into the containment dike.
Although the above description of the problem refers to leaking oil, it should be understood that the leaking fluid usually contains both oil and hot water. The present invention may be used at any flange connection point (i.e., any place where two flanges are bolted together) on the heater treater to deflect leaking fluid into the containment ditch directly underneath the heater treater. For example, in addition to being used to contain leaks emanating from the flange that connects the fire tube to the heater treater, as is described more fully below, the present invention may also be used to contain leaks from manway covers 25 (see FIG. 15).